Reviews: Shapers

I love this shaper. And it would be even better with a power feeder on it.
I have both 3/4” and 1” spindles for this machine. Because most of my shapers use the 3/4” spindle that’s what I use with this machine. It has plenty of power to handle common profiles associated with cabinet door making and I have not been able to slow this machine down. I prefer the fence design to most other Taiwanese/Chinese machines. To get it perfectly parallel to the miter slot I j...

My old delta coping sled bit the dust. To give it it’s due it saw industrial duty… I am proud of it, but ultimately it had problems and it shouldn’t have failed the way it did.
So i have a new one.. and I like it. It is an Infinity cutting tools cop-100 with optional miter bar. I have put this through it’s paces so here we go. #1 Fit, finish, quality. I found this jig to be sturdy, good quality materials, and a smart design. Assembly was easy and the sled came...

I have used this shaper for a little less than a year at work. The fence came in and it wasn’t straight, but when I noticed how the fence assembly was engineered I realized that was pretty much impossible. If you somehow have a different experience let me know.So we’ve had this shaper for a little less than a year and we hardly use it because it’s a pain to set up (fence not being straight). Anyway so all out of nowhere the shaper starts to vibrate like crazy when we used...

After owning these units for a few years now I think it might be a good idea to rewrite this review. Just starting into the cabinet business this machine will satisfy most of your needs. It is easily powerful enough to run shallow profiles, but when it comes to raised panel cuts you either have make sure your cutter is exceptionally sharp or you’ll have to run it through a few passes.
The fence is superior to many shapers that I have used in the past, however, getting it parallel t...

I finally got to try out my new shaper today. It has a 1 1/2hp motor and comes with a 1/2” spindle, 3/4” spindle, 1/4” collet and 1/2” collet for router bits. It has two different speeds and a forward and reverse. I really like the idea that I can use shaper cutters and router bits on the same machine. I have not bought any shaper cutters yet because I feel I should buy shaper cutters for each of the jobs as I do them. That holds true for router bits as well. As I do m...

This review is from: SHOP FOX W1701 1-Horsepower Shaper (Tools & Hardware)First off, I have three shapers now. Two 2hp Shop Fox shapers and this little 1hp Shop Fox shaper. I use it primarily for profiling door lips and it does an excellent job. I know there are a lot of shapers quite a bit like this one but I got the shop fox because it had a high enough rpm to handle my router bits necessary for the job. Setting it up you’ll have to space the table away from the frame or you won...

It came already assambled and ready to go. There was only one minor problem with the mobile system of it. There is a pin that holds the spinning system to lower and raise the shaper, and it broke when trying lowering the mobile system. After hammering the pin out of the hole and inserting a nail for concrete instead, the Great One was ready to start chewing on wood. I thought it was going to make a hell of a noise, but… Surprise!!!, the Great One is at least 60% less noisy than my 1.5 h...

The good:Digital readout is a wonderful feature if you want to stack cutters on the spindle. However, you have to keep an eye on it because mine will creep even with the handwheel lock tightened.
The bad:THE SHAPERat first glance I was excited to get this out of the crate and assembled because the fence looked so nice with all of the adjustment features. I was very very disappointed with this fence. it moves all over the place and by all over the place I mean the wings flex over an 1/8...

I’ve had this shaper for a little over 3years now. I bought this on a whim as I did not have a router table at the time. I never had the intention of using it as a shaper due to the cost of the cutters.
I found that if you want to use it as a router table, you have to install 5 spacers under the table to raise it up to work with router bits otherwise the bits are way to high to use. This is the hardest part of the assembly job. The cast Iron table is one heavy piece to handle and pla...

I recently made a purchase of a Global Rough Grit Ceramic Whetstone. After using this stone for one day it was already starting to dish. I have other ceramics that I use that have not shown any wear. I have a set of ceramic rods that I have used for over 30 years that do not show any wear. I also have a flat stone that is over a year old that shows no wear.
My personal opinion (which is not worth much sometimes) is that the ceramic stones are the best. After a lot of use they hold up bette...